Hi everyone
Well, it was my birthday today, so I decided to head up to the Vedder to give it a shot. Driving over the Capilano River made me wonder if I should just wheel around and stop there, but I pressed on.
Arrived at 9am. Went low on the river to start. Hunted around a bit, but saw no real action, and no real water I liked. Then I decided to go up high...so up past the rapids I went....tried on spot that had some slower water around a log jam....nothing but old pinks and chum. Headed down to another spot where there were some rapids, and watched some people doing stupid things....at this point, I was discouraged. Hoped in the car, and drove slowly down the shoulder looking down for some nice water. Saw a little place I will call "IN Wonderland" for those of you who know the river......small hint - lol.....anyways, it had a really nice tailout, and no one was fishing in the fresh ariated water near the rolling boil..they were all downstream a fair way. So down I went, and shortened my float down to about 3 feet above the wieght (not my leader). Second cast, I had a nice solid hit. As it went down stream, I thought about horsing it in simply because I figured it was another boot chum. I was incredibly happy to see a smaller, chome fish roll as it danced. Head shakes like crazy....and as I got it in shallow water, there it was - my first Vedder coho. Happy birthday to me. Hatchery - 10 pounds.
After cleaning it, I turned around ...and much to my shagrin, everyone on the lower flow had moved into my spot. They did not however, to a man, have polarized sun glasses. At that point, I could see the fish clearly, but these guys were casting all wrong. Went up stream a ways, and let my set up drift into the pocket. Left with a nice 20 pound spring that was much brighter than I expected on the upper river.
All in all, I couldnt be more happy to finally get a Vedder coho.